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J.E. Hodgson, The History of Aeronautics in Great Britain, Oxford 1924
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Acknowledgements
For kind permission to consult and refer to manuscripts, rare editions, original illustrations, aerial objects and archives, my most grateful acknowledgements are due to the London Library; the British Library, London; the Science Museum, London; the National Aerospace Library, Royal Aeronautical Society, Farnborough; the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris; La Musée de l’Air et de l’Espace, le Bourget, Paris; the Library of Congress, Washington, DC; the Smithsonian Library, Washington, DC; the National Air and Space Museum, Washington, DC; the Steven F. Undvar-Hazy Center, Dulles International Airport, Washington, DC; the Anderson-Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum, New Mexico, USA; the State Library of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia; and the Andrée Expedition Polar Centre, Gränna, Sweden.
I would also like to thank Doug Millard, at the Science Museum, London; Dr Nancy Gwinn, Director of the Smithsonian Library
, Washington, DC; Pierre Lombarde, Directeur, Centre de Documentation at le Bourget; Barbara Kiser, features editor at Nature; and to send an airborne greeting to the Thursday Night Group at Café Central, Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC.
I have special scholarly debts to L.T.C. Rolt for his brilliant survey The Balloonists; to Professor Clare Brant, King’s College, London, for her wonderful ‘Ballomania’ lecture at the Royal Society in 2007; to Professor Stephan Bann, editor of the stimulating collection Seeing from Above, who generously let me see a number of papers before their publication; to Keith Moore, polymathic head of the Library and Information Services, the Royal Society, London; to Dr Tom Spencer at Magdalene College, Cambridge, for hosting the ‘Aerial View’ session at the Festival Conference in November 2011; to Dr Philip Ball, masterly science writer and lecturer for his swift fly-by of chemical and other matters; and to the Master and Fellows of Churchill College, Cambridge, for electing me to an Honorary Fellowship, and reminding me that engineering and imagination must, more than ever, go arm in arm towards the big ideas for our global future.
I would like to thank several balloon companies for taking me safely aloft, notably Norwich Balloons, Norfolk; Balloons Aloft, Canberra, Australia; Le Dragon Volant, 30360 St-Hippolyte de Caton, France; and above all the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, New Mexico, USA. Among the many skilful and meticulous balloon pilots that it has been my privilege to meet, on terra firma or above it, I would particularly like to express my appreciation to Julian Nott; and to Barbara A. Fricke and Peter J. Cuneo, together placed third in the historic 2004 Gordon Bennett Race, and twice joint winners of the America’s Challenge Gas Balloon Race, in 2001 and 2010.
A number of wise and learned friends have encouraged me to stay afloat in the strange but fascinating stratos between the arts and the sciences: my old colleague Professor Jon Cook, who regularly ascends with me – literally or metaphorically – above the flatlands of East Anglia; Richard Mabey, who inspires me with meteorological lore; my brother Adrian, of Holmes Hobb Marcantonio, and my sister Tessa, of the Elephantpress, for their shrewd advice on design and presentation; Tim Dee of BBC Bristol; Alan Judd of Intelligence Reformed; Professor Kathryn Hughes, director of the UEA Life Writing MA; and my old and valued mentor Professor George Steiner in Cambridge. I also send greetings to my uncle, Squadron Leader D.C. Gordon, now at maximum altitude.
Here on the ground I have again been immensely lucky in my outstanding publishing team at HarperCollins. My thanks and appreciation go to Robert Lacey (words), Joe Zigmond (pictures), Jo Walker (design), Helen Ellis (upper-air trajectories), Douglas Matthews (the king of indexers), and above all to my visionary editor Arabella Pike, who does not suffer from any kind of vertigo. Best thanks to my agent David Godwin in London, and to Dan Frank at Pantheon, New York. Finally, greetings to the now far-flung wild Delancey boys (including the Hong Kong division), and to all at the New Balloon Centre at Queens Park, London. To my beloved Rose Tremain: a heartfelt earthly thank you.
R.H.
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First published in Great Britain by William Collins in 2013
Copyright © Richard Holmes 2013
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